Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

All hail the time of the bunny!

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

We still have time to mess this up!

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Friday Morning Open Thread: Read Yer F…. ine Manual, “Christians”!

Friday Morning Open Thread: Read Yer F…. ine Manual, “Christians”!

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Even those Americans not raised in Christian traditions usually know the outlines of the “First Christmas” story: A family of refugees show up, without the resources to house themselves, and are helped out by ordinary local people. Then, when the authorities threaten to (shall we say) break up the family with extreme prejudice, three wealthy foreign elitists not only give them advance warning to flee, but provide them the means to do so successfully.

As I understand it, Donald Trump was confirmed in the Presbyterian Church, and still professes to practice it (“I go as much as I can, always on Christmas… “). He’s certainly surrounded himself with self-anointed loud’n’proud Christians, who believe their “faith” gives them special rights to dictate behavior to the rest of us. Somebody needs to catch that bunch up on their scripture!


(Click here, or on the tweet above, for more.)

Inevitable Trumplodyte coda…

Reader Interactions

101Comments

  1. 1.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Not to worry.

    Drumpf will personally welcome/resettle eastern european escorts.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I see that only Togo, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands, Guatemala and Honduras think recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is a *good* idea, and the rest of the world said “FUCK YOU.” to trump and netanyahu. Making America grate again.

    **where “good” is defined as “We can’t afford to lose the money.”

  3. 3.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Drumpf was struggling to drink a small glass of water on Monday — he needed two hands, again

    (photo)

  4. 4.

    Zinsky

    “Showing up at church for one hour on Sunday morning doesn’t make you a Christian, any more than sleeping in a garage makes you a car“. — George Carlin

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Another battle front in the never ending war on Christmas by elitist secular academics: Is Jingle Bells racist? Despite backlash from the right, it’s not black and white

    Kyna Hamill aimed to shed light on a long-hidden history, detailing the racist origins of a popular Christmas carol. Instead the university lecturer ended up the target of rightwing trolling, after her academic research on Jingle Bells was twisted into an example of liberal overreach.

    Hate-filled emails flooded her inbox, Hamill of Boston University told the Guardian. “I was told that I was trying to ruin Christmas for children who weren’t allowed to sing the song any more and that I was ruining the Jingle Bell festival in our town.”

    Hamill had probed the origins of the popular carol, hoping to settle a friendly rivalry between Medford, Massachusetts, and Savannah, Georgia, over where Jingle Bells was written. About two years ago she stumbled across a rather different story. The song, initially known as One Horse Open Sleigh, was first performed in blackface in a minstrel show in Boston in September 1857, she discovered.

    Hamill published the findings in a peer-reviewed paper in September, noting that during the past 160 years the song had become an example of music whose “blackface and racist origins have been subtly and systematically removed from its history”. The song was written by James Pierpont, who badly needed work after failing at several other professional ventures. “Pierpont capitalized on minstrel music and entered upon a ‘safe’ ground for satirizing black participation in northern winter activities,” she wrote.

    Last year she detailed her findings to local media, yielding a front page story in the Boston Globe and no backlash. This year, however, was a different story. “Newest Christmas controversy has social justice warriors claiming this classic holiday carol is racist,” a Fox News host told viewers earlier this month. Breitbart warned that Hamill was urging people to “shun the jaunty tune”.

    Hamill said much reporting of her research was incorrect and laden with “all sorts of absolutely absurd” accusations. “It was obviously an easy way to bait and politicise Christmas,” she said. “Which seems to be what extreme political outlets want to do.” She had never said that Jingle Bells was now racist nor had she sought to discourage people from singing the tune, she pointed out.
    ………
    Ironically the controversy has sent interest in her research on Jingle Bells soaring, placing it currently among the most-read articles on Cambridge University Press. “If anything, this irresponsible reporting has drawn more attention to an academic article that would usually just sit in a journal that very few would read,” she said.

  9. 9.

    raven

    Nauru is a bird shit island.

    “The Nauruan economy peaked in the early 1980s, as it was dependent almost entirely on the phosphate deposits that originate from the droppings of sea birds. There are few other resources, and most necessities are imported.[2][75] Small-scale mining is still conducted by RONPhos, formerly known as the Nauru Phosphate Corporation.[2] The government places a percentage of RONPhos’s earnings into the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust. The Trust manages long-term investments, which were intended to support the citizens once the phosphate reserves were exhausted.[76]

    Because of mismanagement, the Trust’s fixed and current assets were reduced considerably and may never fully recover. The failed investments included financing Leonardo the Musical in 1993.[77] The Mercure Hotel in Sydney[78] and Nauru House in Melbourne were sold in 2004 to finance debts and Air Nauru’s only Boeing 737 was repossessed in December 2005. Normal air service resumed after the aircraft was replaced with a Boeing 737–300 airliner in June 2006.[79] In 2005, the corporation sold its property asset in Melbourne, the vacant Savoy Tavern site, for $7.5 million.[80]’

  10. 10.

    Amir Khalid

    Ahem. One says Read The F…ing Manual, or RTFM for short.

    Anyone here remember the shortlived TV show Alien Nation? Its premise was that an alien slave ship had crashlanded in America; and having survived the landing, the extraterrestrial slaves were now living there as immigrants. It was dressed up as a typical cop show of the era, and was unremarkable as cop shows go. But it had a lot to say about the immigrant experience in America.

  12. 12.

    bystander

    The BIL and SIL are here. We are carefully sidestepping any political discussion. We were treated to an anecdote from Tucker Carlson of the “All Lives Matter” variety. After that landed like a dud, all references to faux “personalities” stopped. I would not like to be forced to do my standup routine about the “crotch couch” on faux.

  14. 14.

    bystander

    @Amir Khalid: I loved Alien Nation. Even better than the movie, which you can’t say about many other movie-to-tv franchises. And not having James Caan and Mandy Patinkin really works in the series favor. I like that they explored their alien experience and the role of men in procreation.

  15. 15.

    bystander

    Jingle Bells is racist and Baby, It’s Cold Outside is the anthem of sexual offenders. Get off my lawn!

  16. 16.

    NobodySpecial

    @Amir Khalid: The movie was much better, but the TV show was a bit better than average quality, really.

    Oddly, Netflix tonight is offering the new Will Smith movie Bright, about a pair of buddy cops out to stop potential Armageddon, with one cop being an orc. The wheel turns.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    An early Xmas gift:

    A jury has acquitted six people on charges of rioting and destruction of property connected to violent protests during Donald Trump’s 20 January inauguration. The case could have major implications for the government’s strategy for prosecuting more than 150 others charged for their actions that day.

    The verdict by a Washington superior court jury after two days of deliberations is a setback for the prosecution’s approach to the case. From the start, government prosecutors did not attempt to prove that any of the defendants had personally committed acts of violence or vandalism.

    Instead they argued that the entire group of protesters, many of whom wore face masks, was guilty of supporting and providing cover as others smashed windows downtown and set fire to a parked limo on K Street.
    …..
    Much of the evidence consisted of a variety of videos, from security cameras, police helicopters and, in some cases, posted to social media by the defendants themselves. Prosecutors also interviewed dozens of witnesses, but none who could identify any of the defendants as a perpetrator.
    ……
    Even before the jury began its deliberations, Judge Lynn Leibovitz seriously damaged the government’s case by throwing out the most serious charge against the six – a felony charge of inciting a riot. Leibovitz said there simply was not evidence to support the charge and the jury’s verdict proved that prosecutors had failed to present convincing evidence to support even the remaining lesser charges.

    Prosecutors also used a “video from a pre-inauguration protest planning meeting that had been infiltrated by a Project Veritas operative. It showed organizers advising protesters on how to handle confrontations with the police, but contained no evidence of plans to commit violence or vandalism.” proving that some lawyers are idiots.

  25. 25.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Which one, lots of pics with lighted candy canes. They seem popular this year. I went up to the hill country to get cards for madame and the kid(we don’t have a Hallmark store here in the lowlands). While I was driving up, I notices one street with lots of house with lights, so I stopped on the way back and, of course, got pics of Montrose all lit up.

  26. 26.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Only a few are from my little neighborhood, some are from the fancy pants mall, some are from the adjoining neighborhood and the one added today are from North Glendale(Montrose and La Crescenta).

    ETA: Also Glendale City Hall, which I stopped by on my way to get a burrito. They had it lit up like that 2 years ago and my pics turned out shitty. This year’s shot turned out much better(even though it was taken with a phone and not my NX500).

  31. 31.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @JPL: I have a laser light and one that projects a blue and gold light(Go Bruins!), but I’m in a back house so no one sees it from the street. The guy in the front house has been sick all year(in and out of the hospital a couple of times), so they didn’t do anything this year.

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Happy Happy, Joy Joy.

    “My wife had just erected (ha!) the tree and I was thrilled at the idea of celebrating the birthday of Our Lord Baby Jesus. The picture sadly fails to convey my excitement.”

  37. 37.

    NorthLeft12

    @OzarkHillbilly: I would have liked to say that Canada took a stand and voted against Deadbeat Donald’s wishes/command, but apparently we defiantly abstained.

    I know we have a lot more important issues to deal with the US under der Trumpf, but kowtowing to a bully, especially this one, is not going to go the way they think.

  38. 38.

    Duane

    It’s not easy to ruin a holiday for an entire nation, but Republicans are damned determined to. War on Christmas indeed.

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NorthLeft12: Yeah, abstaining was more than a little cowardly. The US would lose just as much as Canada and Mexico if trump carried thru with his empty threats.

  40. 40.

    Cermet

    As oceans rise faster and faster (will take 40 years for the full effect), so too will refugee’s numbers; both are waves that are coming. The funny part for us (as if any part is ever really funny) is that the wealthiest in the US will lose against both these oceans; so, as the poorest of the poor are driven inland with nothing to lose both wide ranging wars that will affect us all, as well as world wide deadly disease will follow across our boarders whether we seal them or not. This doesn’t account for equatorial temps that will also be driving vast numbers toward pole’s (note: southern areas get smaller as one continues towards that polar area) – thus, as billions go on the move northward and vast areas of the Earth become both uninhabitable either by lack of water, in rush of oceans or simply intolerable by the rising nighttime temps, these desperate and massive numbers of people are coming and no border will stand against them in the years ahead

  41. 41.

    NobodySpecial

    @Amir Khalid: I have no doubt the same themes about xenophobia, integration, andexistence will come up in a slightly repackaged form with slightly worse writing, but no one expects a Will Smith vehicle to be much beyond the equivalent of a fast food cheeseburger at this point.

  42. 42.

    debbie

    Someone woke up on the Exaggeration side of the bed.

    Our big and very popular Tax Cut and Reform Bill has taken on an unexpected new source of “love” – that is big companies and corporations showering their workers with bonuses. This is a phenomenon that nobody even thought of, and now it is the rage. Merry Christmas!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2017

    My workplace won’t be giving larger bonuses than before. Only Shareholders Matter!

  43. 43.

    Marci Kiser

    I totally dig the sentiment, but even Christians usually know enough about the story to reply that Jesus’s family weren’t “refugees”… they were traveling between towns in Judea to register for a census whose rules stipulated that Joseph had to be where his family lived 1000 years ago.

    Which is its own dicey narrative, of course… I’m not 100% on precisely where my ancestors lived even 200 years ago, and don’t see why I should have to go there, especially for a Roman census that never happened.

  45. 45.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I don’t know. Anything other than a no vote is fine with me. Expecting Muslim countries to vote against their religion is more than offensive, especially because Israel and Trump didn’t hold Christian countries to the same standard.

  49. 49.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    For today’s drunken Christmas party, the TVs in reception, 3 conference rooms and lunch area will have their apple modules set to Christmas music. As they were getting that set up yesterday, I realized that it is absurdly easy to airplay anything from my phone, including video – it doesn’t have to be slaves to the office router (which is how I thought it worked).

    I could, in theory, cause an outstanding #metoo moment by surreptitiously streaming pr0n after everybody gets in their cups….

  50. 50.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: They abstained in response to a direct threat. I am far more willing to give Togo, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, a pass on their yes votes due to the fact that trump could indeed devastate them by withholding aid, but Canada and Mexico’s abstentions? We like living in affordable homes built from Canadian lumber and driving cars made of Mexican manufactured parts.

    What’s he gonna do, set up a free trade pact with Russia?

  51. 51.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    “New and unexpected” “This is a phenomenon that nobody even thought of”

    Trump’s a liar and he’s preempting here- defending on a charge that hasn’t even been made yet. It’s what liars do.

    You can confidently bet 50 dollars that the “bonus” scam was coordinated between those companies and the GOP/White House/ GOP donors. They’re gross people. It’s not the size of the bonus or the clear self-interest of these companies that I object to- it’s how they’re so completely and utterly dishonest. It’s a political campaign! Just tell people that! They’re promoting the Trump tax bill.

  55. 55.

    debbie

    @raven:

    Hey, be sure to talk to your Mr. Genius soon. Despite what was said yesterday, NPR just reported that homeowners can in fact prepay their property taxes this year.

  57. 57.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I saw a Tweet saying the bonuses had been negotiated by the unions long before the tax bill passed. Do you think there’s any truth to that?

  60. 60.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: Yeah. Especially since when the “average of $4000 per worker” number was thrown around earlier in the bill’s life, it was over 10 years.

    Bloomberg:

    […]

    AT&T’s relationship with the Trump administration has had its ups and downs. Even as Stephenson praised the president, the administration’s Justice Department is busy preparing its antitrust case against AT&T’s $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner. AT&T Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson has characterized the deal as strategically vital, but Trump has said the transaction would harm consumers.

    On the other hand, AT&T scored a victory when the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission gutted utility-style regulations for internet service providers.

    AT&T has an immediate financial incentive to persuade the Justice Department to end the Time Warner suit instead of slogging through months of legal wrangling. A settlement would let AT&T avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in fees to creditors to amend the terms of bonds issued to finance the merger, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

    Whether or not AT&T’s employee bonuses are an olive branch to the Trump administration, there are better reasons for the Justice Department to settle the case, said Walt Piecyk, an analyst with BTIG LLC.

    “The DOJ should be reconsidering its lawsuit based on its shaky merits, not some celebratory tax-cut bonus to AT&T employees,” Piecyk said.

    AT&T’s payment will go to union-represented, non-management and front-line management employees, the company said Wednesday. The Dallas-based telecommunications giant also reiterated its plan to invest an additional $1 billion in the U.S. next year.

    “This is a capital-freeing event,” Stephenson said of the tax bill at an Economic Club of New York luncheon on Nov. 29. If Trump signs the bill before Christmas, employees will get their bonus over the holidays, AT&T said.

    Phone carriers are among the companies that are likely to increase their capital spending because of the bill, which allows immediate tax deductions for such investments. AT&T and its rivals are upgrading their networks to provide faster speeds and more ubiquitous coverage as more devices get connected to the internet.

    In the 2016 U.S. elections, Republican candidates got 62 percent of $2.7 million in donations to federal candidates from AT&T’s political action committee that pools contributions from employees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

    Stephenson has averaged a bonus of about $5.2 million over the past three years.

    It’s great that some workers will be getting $1000. But I wonder about the back-story on union involvement in the bonuses. I wonder if AT&T’s unionized workforce is whole yet after the disaster of the housing bubble bursting and near collapse of the economy. I doubt we’ll hear anything about that.

    Also too, $1B is nothing for AT&T. They planned to spend $22B on capital expenditures in 2017 – a 4.5% increase isn’t a big deal considering it’s all deductible at once now.

    tl;dr – it’s mostly all just PR.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    @Amir Khalid

    Yup, remember it. Let’s see, to the aliens, contact in any form with salt water is highly injurious, even potentially lethal.

    So where are they settled? Far from any ocean, perhaps Omaha? Topeka? Chicago?

    Nope. Los Angeles.

  63. 63.

    Immanentize

    Blackface. My grandparents, in the depression, lived in a little one-church town in rural upstate NY. Sometime in the mid-30’s (my mom would have been four or five) it seems that the church put on a community entertainment with singing and square dancing, skits, etc. either at the Methodist Church or the Grange Hall…. I imagine it was styled after vaudeville shows of the time. There is a picture that seems to have appeared in the paper of all the actors and performers. In the back row is my beloved Grandmother, dressed for either square dancing or Alpine yodelling. And in the front row, on the far right, is my dear Grandfather in blackface.

    Submitted for your consideration….

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    Dec. 22 was to be the final day of employment for the last of the announced groups of workers given pink slips this year by Carrier.

    Note that the coincidence of the holiday must have been too much for the company, as that final day has been pushed back to mid-January.

  65. 65.

    Leto

    @NotMax: Sour milk was there go-to drink! Yeah, salt water was lethal to them. I think the settlement thing had to do with the fact that their prison ship settled over LA. Could they have moved them? Sure, but Alien Nation: Topeka doesn’t quite have the same potential. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to resettle them in Montana, similar to an Indian reservation. Actually that might be a good story.

  66. 66.

    Lapassionara

    @Marci Kiser: The story was written the way it was so that Jesus would be born in Nazareth, to fulfill a prophecy about the messiah. The idea that people would be required to go somewhere other than their present home was (and is) unworkable. The “no room at the inn” part makes for a nice story, which can be used to illuminate the hypocrisy of certain people who call themselves Christians.

  68. 68.

    Immanentize

    @Lapassionara:

    The idea that people would be required to go somewhere other than their present home was (and is) unworkable.

    Hey, don’t give Trump any ideas! They are already completely effing up the coming 2020 census….

  71. 71.

    mike in dc

    The meeting between Mueller and Trump’s attorneys, if it happened yesterday, has been the dog that didn’t bark…so far. Perhaps it’s happening today, or perhaps Trump’s lawyers didn’t get the answer they were hoping for.

  74. 74.

    germy

    Jill Stein. On Fox. Talking like a Republican — wtf is a Clinton Democrat and since when could Mueller be described as anything close to it? ?And you all wonder why we side eyed the fuck out of the ppl voting for her raggedy ass. https://t.co/hJ5NhrCX2V— Khal Draghoe (@brownandbella) December 22, 2017

  75. 75.

    laura

    Off, off topic. The spouse and I saw Todd Rundgren last night. All I can say is Holy Toledo! My world-it was rocked!11!
    It was a show, so anti-trumpian and shark suity, and restorative.
    I. Am. Alive.
    I’ve not felt this way in as long as i can remember. If this feeling could be bottled and sold, I’d be as rich as mark faceberg.

  77. 77.

    bystander

    Stein is going to be on Steophanie Ruhle, I think.

    Just heard the MSNBC dummy say that it was good that Comey had corroboration from his FBI colleague because to date, it’s just been “he said, he said”. One “he” is known for a life of truthfulness and honesty and the other “he” has a history of lying, stealing and sexual assault. So, you know, both sides…

  78. 78.

    germy

    @bystander: Stein was on Tucker’s fox show. I guess she’s making the rounds of rightwing media.

    Isn’t Tucker’s show the favorite roosting spot of GG?

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    Wage increases are better than bonuses for middle income workers because middle income workers have to plan. They need slow, steady predictable growth, not one-time bonuses. They’re not in the same position as executives who have sky-high salaries plus bonuses. To me it’s another example of an economy that is set up for the top 1%. We’re not them. We have completely different lives. Take the wage increase over the bonus. It’s a better deal.

  81. 81.

    WereBear

    @Kay: Wage increases are better than bonuses for middle income workers because middle income workers have to plan.

    I agree. This planning aspect is one the Republicans have shot to hell this century. Changing rules, changing businesses, laying off and then frantically looking for qualified people; they are the opposite of planning.

  82. 82.

    japa21

    @Kay: Wage increases are also better for the economy than bonuses. A lot of bonuses are put to paying off credit cards, etc. Wage increases tend to filter themselves into the economy more.

  83. 83.

    Kay

    @japa21:

    It’s just silly to think someone who makes 20k or 40k a year is in the same position as someone who makes 500k a year. They’re vastly different and they require different approaches.

    The older I get the more I’m convinced conservatives are just bad with money. They like fads and stupid shit and stuff that is flashy and not reliable. It’s typical that Trump says companies are “showering” people with bonuses, like it’s magic rain out of the sky. Everything’s a bubble, short term, cheap feel-good measures. It’s not grounded in anything except in selling the ideology which just results in having to sell more of the ideology. We never get anywhere.

  84. 84.

    mike in dc

    @japa21:
    This is one of the unstated benefits of minimum wage increases. They have a “ripple up” effect on wages. Everyone under the new minimum wage gets an increase, and people earning above the new minimum wage are also likely to get a bump in pay. The extra money gets spent, stimulating the economy and creating new jobs and new homeowners, etc.

  85. 85.

    japa21

    @Kay: @mike in dc: It is the exact opposite of trickle down. The big difference is trickle up really works and trickle down doesn’t. And yes, Kay, the GOP is really bad with money. Ryan is hailed as some kind of economic genius but he is as much a con man as Trump.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    @WereBear:

    The only thing they have is money over time. If it comes in erratic and unreliable bonuses they can’t use time to build security.

    It’s part of the Wall Street-ization of the economy. It’s set up for rich people.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    Say what now?

    Hotel Charges Woman $350 For Negative Hotel Review

    The Indiana attorney general’s office filed a lawsuit when the hotel charged her debit card, claiming its fine violates the state’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act.

    After leaving a negative review about a hotel in Indiana following a weekend getaway with her husband, an Indiana woman was charged $350 and threatened with legal action, WTVR reported. Source

  89. 89.

    japa21

    Just received an email from the Cook County Clerk’s office to confirm if I wanted to be an election judge again for the March primaries. I, of course, said yes and then it struck me. That is less than 3 months away and brings us all the closer to taking back our country.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    When people say Merry Christmas now it reminds me of Donald Trump.

    Is there NOTHING he doesn’t stick his big, fat face into? It’s just relentless. Every fucking day these horrible, ethically bankrupt people have to OPINE on everything. They turned “Merry Christmas” into some kind of tribal marker, some nasty and exclusionary CODE.

    I’m saying Feliz Navidad in response. They ruined the english version.

  92. 92.

    K. Lee Ellison

    This headline reminded me of my favorite old “loltheist” RTFM T-shirt design

    Pretty random, but the headline immediately brought this to mind and I still chuckle at it. (Sorry for the cafepress link – the site I first saw the image on seems to be gone)

    The thing I loved about this image is that it works on a number of levels. People don’t know if you’re a bible-believer exhorting people to read the Bible, a non-believer exhorting Christians to read their own book, an IT or programming or tech support geek just satirizing the picture … so many possibilities! :-)

  94. 94.

    laura

    @NotMax: truly, the entire show was just bananas and that there song was just one of many, many gooduns. I reposted it up top, but so far, no takers.

  96. 96.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @Marci Kiser: The refugee bit refers to the Flight into Egypt, which is how Joseph, Mary, and Jesus evaded Herod’s plan to eliminate his potential replacement via mass infanticide. There’s a whole class of paintings of The Rest on the Flight Into Egypt, with the Holy Family stopping to give the poor donkey (who has been hauling Mary around since they left Nazareth) a break. And possibly change out those swaddling bands.

  98. 98.

    J R in WV

    @laura:

    Sounds like good Rock and Roll to me, lifting the whole crowd up! And he’s famous for that.

    Tedeschi-Trucks band, with Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks does a great show, they both rock out on guitar, she is a great singer, and they’ve been touring with the same group of musicians/friends for a long time now.

    Highly recommended if you have even a tiny bit of enthusiasm for blues based rock.

  100. 100.

    J R in WV

    @Kay:

    I only say Merry Christmas to people I have a personal relationship with. Monday we had a plumber out to replace a shower valve that was clogged and reduced the shower flow to a trickle. He’s a really nice guy, been here several times over the years, bright, a tad younger to me. When he was done with the job, we shook hands and both said simultaneously, “Merry Christmas”.

    Then he got his truck stuck and I fired up the tractor to pull him out of the rut. Which only took a couple of minutes, mostly for me to put on work shoes. Big tractor for this purpose. He asked if I wanted him to use his little shovel to fill in the rut, while I was sitting on a tractor with a bucket, and have a pile of gravel behind the shop.

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